Icecapades
by suspenceme
Summary: Alice/Bella. My first Bellice but not my first femmeslash. Alice just went to the market for ice, she never thought she would fall in love. Set in the industrial age.


**Title**: Icecapades

**Author:** suspenceme

**Rating:** K

**Pairing:** Alice/Bella

**Word count:** 1,383

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. Please NO SUING! I only have a dog to my name =/

**Summary:** Set in the industrial age but it doesn't really matter all that much. AH

**Notes:** This is a one-shot and I realize some people will be mad because it won't seem like a one-shot. But I really didn't know where this was going and this was all I got. Also review. Authors live off reviews! just tell me if its good or bad =]

sorry for mistakes, I didn't look it over. point them out and i'll fix them =]

****

I was 11 when I first met her. Her hair was just passed her shoulders, having been cut for the summer weather to come. It was then mid-June and the blistering heat was sweltering hot on anyone brave enough to venture out and about the town.

I was down at the market buying ice that would surely melt before I made it home. But Ma was over heating and Eddie just wasn't fast enough on his 7 year old legs. I would run if I needed to.

I quickly paid the man his coin as he handed me the poorly bagged ice. The bottom fabric already darkening as the ice melted as soon as it hit the surrounding heat of the air. I thanked the man and turned to run home but not before hearing a comment from him. "Trouser wearin' girls, rubbish." I held my tongue. I knew my place. I wasn't likely to run fast with my skirt catching every time I take a step. Even though I knew my place, it didn't mean I liked it. But Ma would be furious if I got into another tussle.

"Ladies should honor a man and his wishes, Mary Alice. The do not go about making their own rules." She always scolds me. I don't understand. Why should I do what a man tells me to when Eddie, at 7 years old, can't even button his shirt correctly to save his life?

"Why would he need to know how if he had a woman to do it for him every day?" I had explained to my mother. My tongue would be the death of me one day. I received 12 lashings for that statement alone. My backside was sore for the next week.

The ice was melting; I could feel its cool drips run down my wrists and over my arms. Goosebumps rising in their wake as I continued to run. I doubt I would make it home before at least half had melted away. I hope I fetched enough.

Worrying about getting home in time, I had not seen the brown ball of fur jump out in front of me before I started to tumble. I groaned as I hit the ground, I groaned as I sat p looking at the massive thing writhing under me attempting to free its self of its innocent capture. A dog. I looked ahead of me to where I had tossed the sack on my down fall. The sack lay over turned, the ice melting into the dirt of the ground. "Ruined." I sighed loudly; I'd have to get more. I even scuffed my pants, I frowned.

I should be mad, furious even. But I have a major soft spot for dogs. Ma never let us have any saying they were more of a nuisance that anything else. The beast was now up and licking the ice dirtied by the ground, she must have been thirsty. I know the feeling; running in this heat isn't the best thing for your thirst.

Its then I notice the strip of leather around the beasts neck. The brown leather camouflaged easily in with the brown tufts of fur that covered the dogs body. The dog had short hair with frumpy ears and two different colored eyes. It was a sight to behold when you first saw the lightest sky blue you've ever seen only to look into the deepest pool of brown.

"Hey girl, you thirsty?" I laughed as the canine swallowed the last of its frozen beverage. She wagged her tail as she made her way towards me. I dusted off my pants and stood taking the beast by the collar.

We walked, me practically dragging the dog, back towards the market of town. Maybe someone down there would know who the dog belonged to or at least know what to do with the lost pet. Not to mention the fact that I needed more ice.

With my tiny stature, the massive canine came up easily to my waist. The height made the walk semi-pleasant as I did not have to pull with a bend in my spine. I walked the streets of the market strip but no one was missing their pet and no one was willing to take her from me. I think it had something to do with the fact she growled at the person every time we stopped. I was soon ready to give up my search but the pooch pulled me passed the last kiosk and dragged me into town square.

The square wasn't big by any means, but in the center was a water feature the town marked as its pride and joy. Buildings and apartment complexes surrounded the courtyard square and streets came to a dead end, branching off in several directions.

"Sellie!" a voice cried out and the dog jumped from my hand and bound around the fountain and to a girl with a rope-like leash in hand. The dog barked happily as she found her owner and the girl's face lit with joy. I was a goner. The girl was beautiful. Her shoulder length hair cascaded over gentle shoulders that were poorly hidden by her simple sundress. The girl was captivating, breathtaking, undeniably stunning.

I smiled despite myself as I walked over to her and her dog. As I approached, she was slightly bent over chastising her dog, Sellie I presumed. But when she caught sight of me she quickly righted herself with a blush tingeing her cheeks. I was speechless. Her eyes were a vivid hazel that would melt a heart in a second. My heart was mush.

"I'm sorry, she doesn't usually run off like that. She doesn't take kindly to strangers."

"She seems to fair well with me." I stated. As if making a point, Sellie wagged her tail vehemently.

"That she does. Curious." The beautiful girl seemed to lose herself for a moment as she looked down at her companion before she shook her head and peered up to me with a beaming smile. "Thank you for bringing her back. Father would have been furious with me if I were to come home without his pride. I swear he loves this dog too much." She giggled and I couldn't help but vibrate with an unknown emotion as tingles shot through my body from just her laughter. "Isabella Swan." She curtsied her name.

I bowed like any gentleman would to a lady, momentarily forgetting myself. "Mary Alice Brandon, but you may call me Alice fair Isabella." I took her hand and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles before standing once more, a bold move. This would not have set well with Ma.

"Bella please, Alice, just Bella." I smiled in understanding. "I don't suppose I could repay you for bringing back Sellie here. You have saved me a lecture for a time." Bella returned my smile with fervor.

"None Ms Bella. But I must be on my way. My Ma would not take kind if I do not return with her ice." I did not wish to leave Bella but I was on an errand run and I was already late.

"It would please me to pay for your errand then. It is the least I could do." She was begging me but I readly did not want her to pay for something that might not even make it back home before it was melted. "Here, take 3 pieces in the least and pay for your ice my friend."

"I cannot accept this Bella, I do not wish you to waste on something as intangible as ice."

"Then buy you something of importance." Bella countered

"Isabella, supper!" a voice called out into the square from one of the surrounding buildings. Bella turned towards her home before looking to me.

"Until we meet again, Alice Brandon." She said dropping the coins into my hand before dragging Sellie to her house in the square.

"Until then, Bella Swan." I called after her pocketing the coins.

I was 11 then but I knew I loved Isabella Swan. I knew that the hazel-eyed girl had me wrapped around her pinky finger. I knew I would be seeing her again.

But that was the first time I met Bella Swan.


End file.
